Traditional building methods have become increasingly expensive and, consequently, in many parts of this country perspective homeowners often find it more desirable to live in mobile homes that are assembled in whole or in part at a manufacturing facility and then towed to a permanent location. Such mobile homes typically have a substantially rectangular floor that is most conveniently supported either around its periphery and/or at points underneath and within the periphery. The floor frame assembly may be assembled complete with walls, roof, windows and doors and similar superstructure items or may be towed to the permanent location for coupling of two or more such floor assemblies to create a larger floor area for a commensurately larger superstructure to be built thereon.
Every jurisdiction has local codes for mobile homes and manufacturers thereof, therefore, design mobile homes accordingly. Of particular interest to individual buyers are factors such as safety against fire hazards and physical stability of the mobile home under high wind conditions. In addition to satisfying such concerns, as persons skilled in the art will appreciate, the prefabricated structure must be transported in a safe and stable manner at highway speeds from its point of manufacture to its permanent location. During such transportation, the structure must be capable of withstanding exposure to incidental bouncing and shock loading with significant deleterious effects.
Satisfaction of the fire code requirements in most jurisdictions favors the use of as much wood or wood products as possible in the floor frame assembly because steel beams have a tendency to warp when exposed to heat from flames and this causes major problems and increased damage. However, for certain applications, e.g., when for asthetic or practical reasons support must be provided other than at the periphery of the mobile home floor, the balance of interests favors the inclusion of I-section steel beams within the floor frame assembly. As a matter of manufacturing practicality and in order to provide the consumer a choice of options, it is therefore highly desirable to provide a mobile home floor frame assembly with the optional replacement of inner wooden beams by I-section steel beams.
Furthermore, as persons skilled in the art will appreciate, it is highly desirable to design the structure so that it is transportable to its permanent destination safely and allows detachment therefrom for reuse of the wheel assembly and towing hitch assembly that must be used during transportation.
Although considerable work has been done in the general field of this invention in meeting the needs outlined hereinabove as, for example, exemplified in my own patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,716,267, 4,015,375, 4,106,258 and 4,019,299, all of which are incorporated herein by reference, there still exists a need for an improved towable unified floor frame assembly for a mobile home that is easily and safely transportable to its ultimate destination, provides the optional inclusion of load-supporting steel beams and from which the wheel assembly and towing hitch elements can thereafter be readily detached and retrieved for reuse.